EvangelismSHIFT

What is EvangelismSHIFT?

EvangelismSHIFT is a two-year journey to transform your church into a witnessing community

In 2011, a study was done of 200 churches that were about to embark on one form of evangelism training or another. Entire congregations were surveyed before, after, and six months after the training to determine their levels of evangelistic involvement. When we arrived at the conclusion of the study we were amazed at the result. No matter which form of evangelism training was done, within six months people were back to their pre-training levels of evangelism.

Since launching EvangelismSHIFT in 2016 we are shattering the results of that study in terms of long-term life change as believers become witnesses!

Our vision in EvangelismSHIFT is a movement of churches across Australia and beyond, whose people have a culture of living as witnesses in their everyday encounters, calling others to respond to Christ.

When your church embarks on the EvangelismSHIFT journey, two Facilitators will walk through that journey with you. All of our Facilitators are either members of our team who created EvangelismSHIFT or pastors of churches that have been deeply impacted by EvangelismSHIFT.

Changing a church’s culture, or a person’s culture, can’t be accomplished in a weekend seminar. That’s why EvangelismSHIFT is a two-year journey.

Year One
We work with your wider leadership community (pastors, elders, ministry leaders, small group leaders and all of these people’s spouses) to help them learn to live as effective witnesses in their everyday encounters and relationships

Principles and how-to from scripture are taught in six seminars (one every two months).

The new way of approaching life and relationships in built through the Live As A Witness journal (a full year soaking in scriptures that lead us into the witnessing lifestyle).

The model for what this looks like in everyday life lived in the secular world comes from the Ambushed by God book by Kelly Talamo, where each chapter tells the story of an encounter or relationship approached as a witness and what God did as a result.

Life change is cemented through Accountability Partnerships formed between fellow participants.

Year Two

We resource and guide your leaders from Year 1 to pass on the witnessing lifestyle to the congregation.

We take your core leadership (pastors and elders) through the SHIFTm2M study of Jesus’ approach to develop people all the way from unconnected lost people to being multiplying fishers of men. We help you design your own disciplemaking pathway that fits your church.

It is our goal that after your two year EvangelismSHIFT journey there will be two of your leaders who will join our growing fellowship of Facilitators and say, “While we implement this disciplemaking pathway, we are willing to come with you once every two months to take another church on this same journey.” These two leaders will each go with one of their Facilitators to a different church, growing the movement!

Why EvangelismSHIFT?

Our nation needs it.

As our nation’s population grows, the Christian community shrinks. Over the last couple of decades the Australian church has begun responding to this decline with an increased focus on evangelistic events.

The reality is that most people will never attend these events without a meaningful relationship with a witnessing Christian.

What can AFCI do for our nation?

When we asked God this question, he began to change our thinking about evangelism and showed us that the most effective thing we can do is help churches move from event-driven, leader-owned evangelism to congregations with a culture of living as witnesses in their daily lives and encounters.

People need to know how to be witnesses in the normal relationships of their lives.